Russell bests Ferrari to take first pole position of his Formula One career in Hungary

Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team’s George Russell took pole position at the Hungarian Grand Prix, beating out the favourites of Scuderia Ferrari with an incredible lap in the session’s final seconds. 

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz will join Russell on the front row, with team-mate Charles Leclerc just behind in third. Lando Norris showed his hand with a fourth place finish, while the Constructors’ leaders of Red Bull Racing encountered obstacles that saw them all the way down in tenth and eleventh after an exciting saturday session.

Q1: Mercedes shows their pace while Vettel, AlphaTauri and Williams are left in the cold

The wet conditions of Free Practice Three may not have rolled over to Qualifying, but the cold temperatures continued to play a role as the drivers began their battle for grid position at the Hungaroring. The track was reported to be twenty degrees cooler than on Friday, which played a big role in the session. 

Red Bull and Mercedes rose to the top of the timing sheet in the first minutes, while the Ferraris, which had proven to be quick in practice, held off from joining the action until later in Q1. Norris showed his potential early on in the session, splitting the Red Bulls in second place.

Once Ferrari got out on track, they found themselves near the top by their second flying laps, with Sainz in second and Leclerc in third with about six minutes to go.

With five minutes to go, Haas F1 Team were in the drop-zone, as well as Nicholas Latifi— the shock leader of Free Practice Three– and Sebastian Vettel, who was able to get out after suffering a crash during practice. 

Haas’ Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher both lifted themselves out of risk for elimination with a few minutes to go, while Zhou Guanyu, who was teetering on the edge of elimination, put in a lap for fifth with over two minutes to go. 

Pierre Gasly put in a lap for thirteenth around the time of the chequered flag, but ultimately lost the lap time to track limits at turn five– solidifying his elimination. Nicholas Latifi had put in a fastest first sector, but ended up not improving after a troublesome final sector, unable to improve from last place. 

Mercedes ended up finishing the first part of qualifying with a 1-2, showing their strength after a tough Friday, while Yuki Tsunoda, Alex Albon, Vettel, Gasly and Latifi were eliminated from Q1 and will make up the back end of the grid on race day. 

Q2: Shock elimination for Perez following track limits confusion

As the drivers put in their first laps of Q2, Red Bull was leading the pack with Max Verstappen in first and Sergio Perez in third, as Norris continued to show his competitive pace, slotting into second. Perez’s time would, however, be cancelled for track limits at about the ten minute mark. Esteban Ocon, last year’s winner in Hungary, would take that third position with a solid lap soon after. 

Fernando Alonso put in an effort for second place, further showing the Alpine’s pace, as Zhou and Daniel Ricciardo put in times for the top five around the eight minute mark. 

By the five minute mark, it was clear that Haas was at risk for elimination, sitting in the drop zone for the majority of the session, as well as Lance Stroll. Perez remained last with no time on the board, but would have the time reinstated after further review of the turn five incident. 

As the chequered flag neared, Valtteri Bottas and Ocon made their final attempts and got themselves out of the dropzone, in turn demoting Perez and Zhou. In the end, it would be a shocking elimination for Perez, who was not out on track when the time ran out, joined by Zhou, Magnussen, Stroll and Schumacher. 

Q3: Russell outperforms both Ferraris for maiden pole

It looked as though it would be a tight battle between Verstappen and both Ferraris for pole, with possibility of Mercedes, McLaren and Alpine competing for the highest grid slots by the session’s end– an exciting final shoot-out for pole was on deck. 

The Ferraris topped the board with their first attempts, with Mercedes’ George Russell and Lewis Hamilton sliding into second and fourth, respectively, soon after. Verstappen’s first lap was a disappointing one, only reaching seventh place after a lockup around turn two and a shaky final corner. 

As the drivers began setting their second attempts with less than a minute to go, the Alpines moved up into fourth and fifth and provisional pole-sitter Sainz was improving upon his last time. Leclerc put in his attempt to snatch pole from his team-mate, but was unable to best him, slotting into second. Sainz improved upon his first time, setting the bar for pole higher. 

Verstappen found himself in trouble as the session came to a close, unable to improve from tenth place after reporting power issues– it was a qualifying to forget for the Red Bulls. 

Norris pulled out yet another impressive lap to take third place, just before Russell crossed the line to take his first ever pole position with a well-put-together effort to upset Ferrari. 

Poised for pole position before Russell’s final attempt, Sainz ended up falling four hundredths short of the British driver’s time to finish second. He will start alongside the Mercedes tomorrow, with team-mate Leclerc starting on the second row– the Italian outfit will be looking to make an impact during the race.

Norris rounds out the second row in fourth after showing great pace throughout qualifying, followed by the Alpines of Ocon and Alonso, putting in a solid effort for fifth and sixth. Hamilton will start seventh, alongside Bottas in eighth, as Ricciardo in ninth and Verstappen in tenth round out the top ten. 

Russell will be looking to maximise his pole position at Hungaroring, which is known to be difficult for overtaking, to contend with the Ferraris for a potential Grand Prix win. Russell was motivated for race day on the team radio as he parked his Mercedes, as he said, “No points for Saturday, let’s go tomorrow.”

Pos	No	Driver	Nat.	Car	Q1	Q2	Q3	Laps
1	63	George Russell	GBR	Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team	1:18.407	1:18.154	1:17.377	23
2	55	Carlos Sainz	ESP	Scuderia Ferrari	1:18.434	1:17.946	1:17.421	22
3	16	Charles Leclerc	MON	Scuderia Ferrari	1:18.806	1:17.768	1:17.567	22
4	4	Lando Norris	GBR	McLaren F1 Team	1:18.653	1:18.121	1:17.769	19
5	31	Esteban Ocon	FRA	BWT Alpine F1 Team	1:18.866	1:18.216	1:18.018	20
6	14	Fernando Alonso	ESP	BWT Alpine F1 Team	1:18.716	1:17.904	1:18.018	17
7	44	Lewis Hamilton	GBR	Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team	1:18.374	1:18.035	1:18.142	21
8	77	Valtteri Bottas	FIN	Alfa Romeo Racing	1:18.935	1:18.445	1:18.157	20
9	3	Daniel Ricciardo	AUS	McLaren F1 Team	1:18.775	1:18.198	1:18.379	19
10	1	Max Verstappen	NED	Red Bull Racing	1:18.509	1:17.703	1:18.823	21
11	11	Sergio Perez	MEX	Red Bull Racing	1:19.118	1:18.516		16
12	24	Zhou Guanyu	CHN	Alfa Romeo Racing	1:18:973	1:18.573		16
13	20	Kevin Magnussen	DEN	Haas F1 Team	1:18.993	1:18.825		18
14	18	Lance Stroll	CAN	Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team	1:19.205	1:19.137		16
15	47	Mick Schumacher	GER	Haas F1 Team	1:19.164	1:19.202		16
16	22	Yuki Tsunoda	JAP	Scuderia AlphaTauri	1:19.240			9
17	23	Alexander Albon	THA	Williams Racing	1:19.256			10
18	5	Sebastian Vettel	GER	Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team	1:19.273			10
19	10	Pierre Gasly	FRA	Scuderia AlphaTauri	1:19.527			9
20	6	Nicholas Latifi	CAN	Williams Racing	1:19.570			10